Since being appointed bishop of Tulsa, Okla., 18 years ago, he has seen a dramatic rise in the Hispanic population and a drop in the average age of priests.

Bishop Edward Slattery, 71, was born and raised in Chicago. He attended the archdiocese’s Mundelein Seminary and was ordained a priest in 1966. He served in Chicago parishes and was active with the Catholic Church Extension Society, which funds the American home missions.

In 1994, he was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II and installed as the third bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, Okla. He is noted for his orthodoxy and piety and has publicly advocated a reform of the liturgy. As the Church prepares for the official promulgation of the new translation of the liturgy on the First Sunday in Advent, Nov. 27, he shared his thoughts on the liturgy, the priesthood and religious life, and maintaining a healthy spirituality.

You’ve made public statements about problems with the liturgy. What changes would you like to see?

I would like to see the liturgy become what Vatican II intended it to be. That’s not something that can happen overnight. The bishops who were the fathers of the council from the United States came home and made changes too quickly. They shouldn’t have viewed the old liturgy, what we call the Tridentine Mass or Missal of Pope John XXIII, as something that needed to be fixed. Nothing was broken. There was an attitude that we had to implement Vatican II in a way that radically affects the liturgy.

What we lost in a short period of time was continuity. The new liturgy should be clearly identifiable as the liturgy of the pre-Vatican II Church. Changes, like turning the altar around, were too sudden and too radical. There is nothing in the Vatican II documents that justifies such changes. We’ve always had Mass facing the people as well as Mass ad orientem [“to the east,” with priest and people facing the same direction]. However, Mass ad orientem was the norm. These changes did not come from Vatican II.

Also, it was not a wise decision to do away with Latin in the Mass. How that happened, I don’t know; but the fathers of the Council never intended us to drop Latin. They wanted us to hold on to it and, at the same time, to make room for the vernacular, primarily so that the people could understand the Scriptures.

You yourself have begun celebrating Mass ad orientem.

Yes, in our cathedral and a few parishes where the priests ask me to. Most of the time, I say Mass facing the people when I travel around the diocese or when I have a large number of priests concelebrating, because it works better that way.

A few priests have followed my example and celebrate ad orientem as well. I have not requested they change. I prefer to lead by example and let the priests think about it, pray about it, study it, and then look at their churches and see if it’s feasible to do.

And it’s positive when people are thinking about and talking about the liturgy.

When people make the liturgy part of their conversation, it is a good thing. As priests and laypeople discuss the liturgy, they’ll see how important it is and how it is a work of God and not our own.

But we must approach the liturgy on bended knee with tremendous humility, recognizing that it doesn’t belong to us. It belongs to God. It is a gift. We worship God not by creating our own liturgies, but by receiving the liturgy as it comes to us from the Church. The liturgy should be formed and shaped by the Church itself to help people pray better. And we all pray better when we are disposed to receive what God has offered, rather than creating something of our own.

Are you excited about the promulgation of the new translation of the Roman Missal?

I’m looking forward to it. I’ve put a lot of work into it this past year: getting the people of the diocese ready. We’ve hosted a number of large gatherings to explain the new translation, and those in attendance were attentive and grateful. I think it is going to be well received by our priests and the people.

Moreover, the announcement of the new translation has sparked an opportunity to renew our commitment to an active participation in the liturgy. We should come to the liturgy with an interior disposition that it is something which we can only receive. It is a gift from God. And, as part of our reception of that gift, we must listen with a loving heart to what God has to tell us.

In 2010, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s election, you celebrated a traditional Latin Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Why did you celebrate this Mass, and how did it go?

I did it because I didn’t want a lot of people to be disappointed. Archbishop [Donald] Wuerl [of Washington], now Cardinal Wuerl, called me to say they could not find a bishop to celebrate the Mass because the bishop who was originally scheduled withdrew. It was only a few days before the event, and they needed a replacement. Since bishops’ schedules are so tight, even Archbishop Wuerl could not do it on such short notice. So, I was thrilled to have the opportunity.

I was impressed by the large crowd, but found it easy to pray, despite all the people. There was a sense of prayer, a silence and an involvement that made it easy for all of us to pray together.

You preached on suffering that day, and your homily was well received.

We were there to thank God for the Holy Father’s five years of service as the Successor of Peter. I realized that during those five years he has suffered enormously, and the Church has been the target of much persecution. It makes you more conscious of suffering itself. Suffering has always been with us; it’s something we all have to endure.

I wanted to remind the congregation that our sufferings need not be wasted; suffering in union with Christ is redemptive. However, if we suffer with resentment or with a sense of merely feeling the pain of suffering, it is wasted.

I thought that would be a good theme. I didn’t want to talk about the divisions that exist between conservatives and liberals or those who attend the Tridentine Mass and the rest of the Catholic world.

Suffering is universal. Everyone suffers as a result of the sin of Adam and Eve and our own sins. But what Christ, in his great love for us, has done is taken that which is our great enemy, suffering and death, and put it at our service. Suffering and death can be the cause of our redemption.

You obviously have quite a love for the priesthood. What first made you want to be a priest?

I can’t trace it to any one thing. My mother and father were good Catholics, and the neighborhood in which I lived had many good Catholics, so I grew up in a positive environment.

I do recall one instance, however, when I was very young. I woke up in the middle of the night and made my first adult prayer. By this, I mean I was conscious of God’s presence and moved by it. I was filled by a profound and unexplainable gratitude for his presence and love.
From that time I changed. I became interested in things of the Church: Mass, sacraments, religion classes, priests and nuns. Anything that was religious was attractive to me from that time on.

I announced to my parents when I was in the fifth or sixth grade that I would like to go to Quigley [Preparatory Seminary] and become a priest. They were happy, but I was a little disappointed that they were not as excited about it as I was. They were in favor of it, but I thought they would be thrilled. Looking back on it, I think they were thinking, Oh, this is just a child’s dream. But I was serious. My father went to Quigley himself, and my brother too, but they both left and got married.

Your ordination as a bishop by Pope John Paul must have left you with many special memories.

It was an unforgettable experience. To this day, I feel grateful and unworthy.

I had met Pope John Paul II several times before. Because I was president of the Extension Society, I traveled frequently and came to places where he was visiting. I remember meeting him in Arizona and Alaska and in Guam, where I met him the first time.

Like everyone else, I was in awe in his presence. I felt privileged that I could shake hands with him and see him face to face.

How has your Diocese of Tulsa changed since you first arrived nearly 18 years ago?

We’ve had a large influx of Hispanic Catholics, most of whom have come since I arrived. The diocese officially has 60,000 Catholics, but twice as many if you include Hispanics. Often, they won’t register in our parishes, however. Because of our immigration laws, they are hesitant to sign their name on anything.

We’ve also gone from having one of the older clergy populations in the country to one of the youngest. In the last 18 years, most of our priests who were on active duty have died or retired. I’ve ordained about 30 since I’ve arrived, and we have about 50 active priests total. Our average age now is about 45 or 46.

We usually ordain about two priests a year. They serve a Catholic population in this state that is a minority, but a strong and faithful minority.

You’ve expressed your concern about the decline of religious communities in the past 40 years. What do you think caused it?

Sometimes Vatican II is blamed for it, but I think it has to do with a change in our culture and the West. We have become secular, self-reliant and independent.

In the 1960s, we had the war in Vietnam, the civil-rights movement and a society that was increasingly disillusioned with people in authority. Protests arose emphasizing that people were being denied their rights — and, sometimes, they were — and the themes of responsibility, obedience, loyalty and fidelity were forgotten. We lost an important balance we needed.

Also, as technology improves, people become more and more comfortable and expect to be comfortable. We take for granted the gifts God has given us and think we’re entitled to them.
These prevailing attitudes then affect all of us, whether we’re a religious, bishop, priest, married or single person. It’s just a matter of time before some religious say, “I’m going to change the way I’m living and re-interpret the meaning of poverty, chastity and obedience.”

But for us to have a conversion of heart, we need examples. We need religious. We need reformation of the religious and consecrated life because the Catholic Church is searching for men and women who can lead us by example. That is what has been lacking in the past 40 years, as many religious left the religious life or changed to a lifestyle which is, unfortunately, even more comfortable than the average person. Sometimes I think some religious have lost their identity.

The charisms of poverty, chastity and obedience are something that all of us need to embrace, but the religious are the ones who lead us in this. They help us to stay focused on Christ in another world, another kingdom, and not the kingdom of this world.

How should we respond?

We should start with prayer. That’s where everything starts. We don’t start by talking about ourselves or even examining our consciences. We start by prayer, on our knees. We come to the Lord and ask him to let us see ourselves as he sees us. He’s the only one who can. God knows each one of us perfectly, and if we’re seeking self-knowledge, we must go to him.

Once we do that, we receive his help and a certain joy because we open our hearts to being honest. We allow ourselves to see and accept what is true about ourselves and about others in light of the Gospel. But without prayer, that can’t happen.

Once we become men and women of prayer, everything else will fall into place. But we have to put in the time. You have to schedule prayer. You have to make sure that you pray every day, and as often as you can. Become a man or woman of prayer. When we do this, we will begin to discover ourselves, perhaps for the first time.

You also frequently recommend Eucharistic adoration.

The Eucharist is the center of our lives. The reason for Eucharistic adoration is so that we might find ourselves as better participants when we do celebrate the Mass. Everything centers around our Lord in the Eucharist. Once we begin to see this and experience this, we’ll find ourselves going to Mass more often.

Are there other spiritual practices you recommend?

We have to return to the Rosary. Pope John Paul II said that when we pray the Rosary, we see the life of Christ through the eyes of his mother, Mary. And there’s no better way to look at Christ than through the eyes of Mary. The Rosary is a tried and true means of doing that. I encourage every Catholic to pray the Rosary every day. Praying the Rosary takes us through the major mysteries of our faith, especially now since John Paul has given us the five Luminous Mysteries.

I also advise a return to confession. When I say this, I don’t mean to do this in some sort of laborious, burdensome way, but rather as a form of prayer. Pray before you examine your conscience, and allow the Lord to tell you what your sins are. He loves you, and he will tell you a lot about yourself. He will help you see yourself in contrast with his infinite love for you. You will begin to see the gap between his love for you and your love for Him. And when you experience that gap, it will help you become more generous and more apt to recognize and admit your sins in confession.

Who are your heroes in the spiritual life?

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower. I have a picture of her in my chapel, and I talk to her every day. Since becoming a bishop, she has become my hero. She has such enormous humility, and her love for Christ is so genuine.

What impresses me most about her is that she found great peace in her life because she wanted the approval of Jesus alone for anything she thought or did. She never wanted anyone else’s approval, only his. Now, that’s really love. We often seek approval and praise from others, whether it be from our parents, co-workers or friends.

But she did not. All she wanted was that approval from Christ himself, so she was always trying to please him. That’s all that mattered to her; that simplified her life and made her a saint.

Comments

I am so honoured to have His Excellency Bishop Slattery in my state. He is truly a man of God and I agree with him so much. If we celebrated even the ordinary form in the manner that was originally intended by the council (which is unfortunately quite a rare sight) one would find it not far removed from the Tridentine Mass other than increased lay participation. We must, regardless of extraordinary or ordinary, retain the beauty of the Church’s traditions; be it with vestments, architecture, or ritual. Not to mention, there are so many Catholics who do not even know the Church has any connection with the Latin language. It is so sad. Even if we give room for the vernacular, Latin should also be used in every liturgy. Certain parts of the mass could be said in the vernacular whereas others could be said in Latin, which is actually was Paul VI originally had hoped for. The Council could simply be a reaffirmation of the Church but so many have distorted its true meaning.

Posted by Karen Lyons on Sunday, Apr 1, 2012 6:44 AM (EDT):

Thanks Fr Ashlyn Chand I only read your comment today, I feel great encouragement form reading you’re reply; on our need as Catholic to pray the Rosary daily. While in Medjugorje, all I wanted to do there was pray, and now at home I am getting there to a degree, but not able to accomplish that great commitment to prayer I had in Medjugorje. I am convinced this is proof of Our Lady visiting Medjugorje daily, and the great flow of grace received among all the pilgrims praying their. I should Spiritually go to Medjugorje to pray, and that is the answer I pray. I can go to Lourdes and Knock Spiritually also, and hopefully someday; I will go to the Holy land and Fatima, best of all is our Sacred Heart church in our own home I pray. Our Lady is full of grace, and Our Lady is beautiful pure and perfect, a true Mother with precious Love for us all. Our Lady is their for us completely, I hope I can realise and show this completely in all and everything I do, to everybody, Jesus shines through Our Lady, Our Lady’s love is so strong it presents God in perfection, through loving Our Lady we are loving God, because Our Lady’s love is more perfect than ours, God shines through Our Lady, and the Holy Ghost is our beautiful lovely connection to shine with love only made more perfect and holy through Our Lady our Mother, the Saints, all our priests, Bishops and Pope Benedict XV1. “Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty.” Amen

Posted by Albert modungwa on Saturday, Mar 31, 2012 3:05 PM (EDT):

I was born and bred in the faith of catholic church and to my surprise the preist who the bishop has appointed to my parish is selling sacrament. is the bishop aware of this practices?christ the king mabopane

Posted by Fr Ashlyn Chand on Wednesday, Nov 2, 2011 11:58 PM (EDT):

As a Roman Catholic priest I too strongly believe that we need to pray The Rosary daily and I have seen the power of praying The Rosary daily.

Posted by Karen Lyons on Wednesday, Nov 2, 2011 8:43 PM (EDT):

Bishop Slattery, I love everything you say about prayer, I could feel your spirit of prayer as I read your words. Thank you very much! I have experienced a great closeness to Jesus through prayer, at different stages in my life. You reminded me of those good times, I would love to be that close to Our Lord all the time, through all the trials in life, there are times when I am weak. When I reach out to Our Lord in my weakness these are my greatest times. I am aware though I can say my prayers today, and I will not feel like Jesus is sitting right beside me. I am not worthy of that anyway, but their was a time, when my prayer made me feel Jesus that close. I was never worthy of this, and understand totally why today I do not feel Jesus this close. I call out to him with such remembreance of love, it goes so deep, yet I still know I am not worthy. I know I need to pray better, and experience this deep love more often, and with greater conviction, to be worthy. I remember so well when Jesus was so close to me, telling myself; “I can not understand for the love of me; why everybody does not pray like this, and today I am the same myself, I actually experienced such totall love from Jesus through prayer, and now I struggle some days to pray. I can pray good somedays, but I need to make every day like this. Thank you Karen

Posted by Will on Monday, Oct 31, 2011 2:20 PM (EDT):

What good does it do for lay people to talk about the liturgy when their thoughts and comments do not agree with the bishop?

Posted by Michael on Monday, Oct 31, 2011 12:47 AM (EDT):

Gary, Laura, my former priest explained the priest doesn’t “have his back to the people,” he is leading them to God. This different perspective makes much better sense, especially at the consecration when you see him raise the Body & Blood of Christ.

Gary, if you would quit church for this reason, maybe you do not know that Jesus said unless we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we do not have life in us. He lost many disciples when He said this. At the Last Supper, He gave thanks for the bread and wine and told His apostles that they were His Body and Blood, that we should eat and drink, and do it in memory of Him. Only the Catholic Church obeys this command. Only Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

I choose the life Christ promised us. I urge you to do the same. I urge you to deepen your faith by learning more about it. I have been doing that for a couple years, and have realized that the faith is more profound than I ever imagined.

Posted by Matt on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 8:48 PM (EDT):

Thank you Bishop Slattery for your comments about the Traditional Latin Mass. It is so refreshing to hear a bishop make these types of remarks!

Posted by TJM on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 6:19 PM (EDT):

Gary, the priest is facing the Lord. This was the time immemmorial practice until some “liturgists” scammed the bishops into believing otherwise. By the way, more folks left the Church over the loss of Latin and the changes then will leave if it returned.

Posted by Jacobus McCoy on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 4:19 PM (EDT):

Bishop Slattery is a good bishop. —His points about Latin and ad orientem are well made. @Gary: A few reasons of substance would perhaps give you some credibility? I attend the classical Roman Rite of Mass every Sunday. It is beautiful; yes, I use a prayer book to follow the Mass. What’s the problem with doing that? This is the way it was done for more than 1500 years and it nourished countless millions of souls, amongst them many declared saints. EVERYONE should familiarize themselves with the Extraordinary Form of Mass. It is truly Extraordinary! This Rite of Mass has much to teach Latin Rite Catholics about proper worship of God.

Posted by TJM on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 3:40 PM (EDT):

Gary, funny at lot of people quit going to Mass in the 1960s because the priest no longer faced the Lord (liturgical east), Latin was dropped, and in its place we had to endure silly new music and theatrics from the altar.

Posted by Okie on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 1:32 PM (EDT):

Gary,

You cannot hold God or the Church hostage by treating your soul in such a vain manner. Jesus Christ has already ransomed your soul from the Devil on the Cross, it is not yours to threaten with. If hell is worth contemplating due to the direction a person stands or the language they speak, you must not believe that hell is the place often described in Catholic history. For your own sake, please do not speak about your eternal welfare so flippantly.

Posted by David on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 11:16 AM (EDT):

Gary @ “I would quit going to church”.
If that’s how you feel, and the Church means so little to you, then maybe you’d be happier as a protestant (assuming you’re not already one).

Posted by Glen on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 10:24 AM (EDT):

Then as per Church teaching you’ll go to Hell, Gary.

The ‘Ordinary Form’ was never supposed to be celebrated with the priest facing us (back towards God) nor entirely in the vernacular.

Since the ‘spirit of Vatican II’ changes (not mandated by the Council, nor any Pope) the Church has gone into a horrible decline. Mass attendance, number of priests, seminarians, religious, participation at Confession, etc. Prudence dictates we examine why and make the necessary corrections. Many souls are at stake.

God bless courageous clergy like Bishop Slattery.

Posted by Mike on Sunday, Oct 30, 2011 10:15 AM (EDT):

Gary—the priest isn’t turning his back to you: he is facing towards the Lord, the Risen One, with you.

Latin is the language of the Church. Nothing can change that; the economy, the chaste “impersonality” of Latin insures our worship is more than an emotional things. Go to Youtube, and listen to the Latin chant—“Jesus dulcis memoria”. Its beauty is transcendent, and timeless.

Don’t leave; listen.

Posted by Laura Patty on Friday, Oct 28, 2011 5:06 PM (EDT):

My husband and I live in the diocese of Tulsa, and we both feel extreme love and gratitude for our wonderful bishop. He is a beacon of truth and love for everyone in our diocese. God has indeed blessed us through him!

Now if I can quit gushing for a moment… I would be willing to bet that a large part of the reason for the increase in Hispanic families in our diocese is due to Bishop Slattery’s public involvement in speaking out for fair immigration reform. He has personally reached out to the Hispanic community with love and compassion in an attitude of service. I pray to God that the people of our diocese (and those across the country) will follow his example of treating immigrants as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who need our help!

@Gary: I think the idea in the Latin Rite is not so much that the priest has his ‘back to the people’ as he is ‘worshipping WITH the people’ just like the people in the pews in front of you.

Posted by Gary. on Friday, Oct 28, 2011 2:56 PM (EDT):

If mass returns to priest back to the people and the priet saying mass in latin. I would quit going to church.

Posted by Marianne on Friday, Oct 28, 2011 11:39 AM (EDT):

I had the privilege at being at the Mass he celebrated at the National Shrine Of the Immaculate Conception. I was so moved by this humble servant of God. It was the first time I had attended the LTM and for the first time in my life I completely understood the importance of the Mass and the role of the Priest. Bishop Slattery’s homily was one of the best I have ever heard. He put suffering in prospective and reminded us suffering is not in vain when offered to the Lord. I pray for this Bishop and have a great love for him, a true shepherd of God! He is the epitome of what a Bishop should be to his people. A good and holy man who radiates the love of God for his people.GOD BLESS YOU BISHOP SLATTERY!!!

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